The Homemade life supports Kiva - microloans for people in developing countries working to change their lives. These loans are repaid to our KIVA account, so your donation is used many times to help different people - literally the gift that keeps on giving..

Well I am really doing quite well. Have just painted another pic. I am using A5 size paper & I get the pads from Poundland. My artistic GD tells me the paper is good. At the moment I am copying pics from old calenders lovely pics & not too taxing yet. Very relaxing. Learning more each time I have a go.

................................................................................................................................No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.Elenor Roosevelt

]Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think...

I keep thinking that I'll do some drawings from photos I've taken of the veg patch (inspired by seeing the fantastic painting Stanley Spencer did of marrows growing on an allotment, which is at the gallery at Cookham). Well, I take the photos, but no drawings or paintings seem to have materialised yet....

................................................................................................................................The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers and sisters.

................................................................................................................................The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers and sisters.

I've found that since I worked in the computer industry and under a lot of stress I can no longer draw....I still haven't worked out what is missing...my hand is now steadier but it still isn't working. It is really annoying as I loved to draw and have always doodled.

Perhaps I should try following a how to draw book (again after 40years!)

Done a bit of drawing, some not bad but the rest rubbish. Want to do a specific piccy at some time, but must practise for it & get the subjects right, will probably be about 12 people doing different things. Shall do one in pencil & then one in water colour, I hope.

Young Master Sparhawk or the young Squire whichever has sent me round the 2 latest Doctor Who Mags, so lots of fun there.

................................................................................................................................No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.Elenor Roosevelt

]Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think...

I like using pastels, they have a lovely texture. I also use some watercolour pencils which can be used wet or dry for interesting effects.

One of the few courses I have done which was purely for fun was to go to a series of art classes held in a wonderful building in Ledbury run by an Aatists collective, called "Artistree". I had such fun and learned a lot of techniques for exploring colour and preparing paper to use watercolours on them.

Sadly the funding for the building ceased and the project folded but I had such fun every week for 10 weeks!

Football again today. I made a jump & drew a picture & then painted it. I did copy the picture & follow the instructions, sort of, just like a lesson & must admit I am pleased with the outcome. It is much better now that I am getting rid of the ingrained lessons from school & only have to please myself.

................................................................................................................................No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.Elenor Roosevelt

]Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think...

Today I have been given a table easel & a huuuuuge canvas. Will be sometime before I can paint that, but it something to work towards. Also some pencils & brush cleaner & dryer jar. What a lucky girl!!

................................................................................................................................No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.Elenor Roosevelt

]Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think...

Work in progress: I am sort of "meh" about acrylic but doing this for a friends Xmess present and cash a bit tight so acrylic cheapest option for me. It dries way too fast for me IMO but still, we'll get there.

I personally like acrylics as I like the shiny plasticy result, and yet if you water it down enough it goes like watercolour washy. And you can get some really vibrant colours. I tried oil once ! No likey. I don't think it suits the sort of creations I do. I consider myself as an artist that puts things together to create an image rather than just doing an image. Just the way I work to get better pictures from myself. Oh dear I fear I have rambled a little here.

"Anyone can achieve their fullest potential. Who we are might be predetermined, but we should never allow our fears, or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny. Our destiny cannot be changed but it can be challenged: Every man is born as many men, but dies a single one." -Timothy McGee (NCIS)

Haven't tried oils yet, though I really want to. I love watercolour and gouache however, but would love a change to bimble with some egg tempura: I know a few places that sell it.

This was to be a OOAK (One of A Kind) but I will more than likely be offering this as a print. Friend doesn't seem to rate it much! So I probably will keep it and give her something else. A bit meh about that but oh well, does mean I'll have an original to sell eventually however!

Oh bless, I had a phase when I did nothing but! I'm considering doing one in watercolour but I've got a bunch of other stuff in the cards at the moment. Keep at it, I have found I spend a load of time NOT actually painting as I'm doing drawings and studies. Already filled a sketchbook in the past week and need another.

As an aside, have you done any sketches of more mundane reptiles as an exercise in anatomy? Then perhaps thake that morphology and scale up to more complex creature, i.e. dragon. Maybe kind of an engineering answer, lol.

I was salvaging a canvas; what was originally on this was my Pink Tree study in acrylic. I decided there's no reason not to paint over it and put something else on it as I'd managed to get what I wanted out of the study. And, knowing I don't really get on well with acrylic I just decided I'd mess about and do something in my very-loved viridian. I had no plans, just knew I wanted to use viridian and see what would happen.

So I decided to fill in the background with a diagonal technique I had messed about with earlier in the week, but there was a problem; the ex was being an utter knob that day and so the result was I was getting more and more irritated. The paint was there, I didn't want to waste it and so I started filling in, without even really paying attention, just laying the paint in. I then washed my brushes, still muttering and took a few minutes out to do something else.

A week later I dug the canvas out again and thought "Hell, I must have been really pissed." It was the most aggressive painting I've done in a long while, really BOLD almost masculine strokes with layers of dark and light. It looked cool actually but it also looked angry. And I didn't really want to dredge up all my annoyance all over again just so I could try and work on the background I'd filled in. Nor did I really want to paint over it yet again.

So I got the brushes and thought how I'd try and salvage what I had done, how to save it. And this was what I managed to come up with - it's very rough, almost primitive, which I think goes with the background considerably. However, and perhaps more importantly, I've taken something which started out rather aggressive and harsh and turned it round, planting a seed for something lovely instead.

And that, I suppose, says a fair bit about life in general. So, I'm happy with it. In this one case, the acrylic really worked for me, which is encouraging. Not sure if it is A Painting or just a bit of mucking about. Possibly both.

"Anyone can achieve their fullest potential. Who we are might be predetermined, but we should never allow our fears, or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny. Our destiny cannot be changed but it can be challenged: Every man is born as many men, but dies a single one." -Timothy McGee (NCIS)